Big NFL game on CBS sacks ABC dramas

'Once Upon a Time' and 'Revenge' hit lows Sunday

ABC paid the price for going up against one of the biggest NFL games of the season Sunday, as original episodes of dramas “Once Upon a Time” and “Revenge” hit lows opposite the Ravens-Patriots contest on CBS.

Reliable preliminary national estimates for the AFC Championship weren’t available from Nielsen this morning due to time-zone differences, but the Baltimore Ravens’ 28-13 upset victory over the New England Patriots averaged a 14.6 rating/34 share in adults 18-49 and 41.5 million viewers overall on the CBS affiliates from 7 to 10 p.m., with gains of more than 10% likely in the nationals.

Still, Sunday’s ratings won’t approach what last year’s monster NFC Championship game between the New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers did in primetime on Fox (21.4/47 in 18-49, 57.6 million viewers overall in the nationals).

Following the game and post-game coverage on CBS, a special new episode of “Hawaii Five-0″ averaged roughly a 4.1/10 in 18-49 and 13.6 million viewers overall, which would represent the show’s best numbers to date.

ABC edged out Fox’s comedy repeats for the night’s runner-up prize in adults 18-49, opening with “America’s Funniest Home Videos” (1.3/3 in 18-49, 6.3 million viewers overall). “Once Upon a Time” followed with a 2.4/6 in 18-49 and 7.7 million viewers overall — solid numbers considering the special football competition, but a 14% decline from last week for the show’s lowest demo score to date. Similarly, “Revenge” (1.7/4 in 18-49, 5.7 million viewers overall) was down about 15% from last week. Both “Once” and “Revenge” figure to fare better than usual in DVR playback with Sunday’s episodes.

The Alphabet did show improvement in the 10 o’clock hour, where a special repeat of “Shark Tank” (1.3/3 in 18-49, 4.0 million viewers overall) performed better than original episodes of comedies “Happy Endings” and “Don’t Trust the B in Apt. 23″ to air in the hour earlier this month.

NBC didn’t do much on the night with back-to-back encores of the first two installments of this season’s “The Biggest Loser,” averaging a 0.7/2 in 18-49 and 2.2 million viewers overall from 7 to 9 p.m. and a 1.0/2 in 18-49 and 2.7 million viewers overall from 9 to 11.